HTC Vive Focus – Page 10 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

November 14, 2017November 14, 2017

Viveport and Vive Wave Seeking New Content Creators

The Vive Developers Conference currently taking place in Beijing, China has already seen the announcement of some bits of interesting news, such as the first glimpse of the standalone HTC Vive Focus headset, and the launch of the Vive Wave open content platform. Also announced during the event was news that HTC Vive was seeking new developers to work on content for Viveport and the newly announced Vive Wave.

During a presentation detailing the work done by Vive Studios, it was revealed that developers had the opportunity to get hold of a development kit for the upcoming HTC Vive Focus, which would enable new developers to create content for the platform.

Developers could submit a proposal to HTC Vive for access to one of the development kits, which would need to include details on the aims, history and the type of work that the developer is engaged with, so Vive Studios can determine if the potential developer is a good fit for Vive Studios.

Vive Studios provide a number of resources and guidance for start-up and smaller developers. One example of the sort of help Vive Studios can provide is localisation resources, not just to translate text and dialogue into Chinese, but also to interpret cultural touchstones into something that would be more familiar to a Chinese audience.

Developers who were in attendance at the Vive Developers Conference were given a slight advantage for accessing the HTC Vive Focus development kits on offer, since they would get priority when being considered.

Vive Studios are hoping that this project will continue to bring fresh and innovative new content to the existing Viveport platform and the Vive Wave open platform.

VRFocus will continue to bring you the latest information from the Vive Developers Conference.

November 14, 2017

HTC Announces ‘Vive Focus’ Standalone VR Headset

Vive China President Alvin Wang Graylin reveals the Vive Focus on stage at VDC 2017 | Image courtesy HTC

Today during the Vive Developers Conference in Beijing, HTC revealed the Vive Focus, a standalone VR headset with inside-out positional tracking. The headset is positioned for the Chinese market.

Update (11/14/17): HTC has confirmed to Road to VR that the company is cancelling plans to bring a Daydream-based version of the Vive Focus headset to Western markets, including the US and Europe. More details here. This article has been updated to reflect the new information.

Original Article, Updated (11/13/17): Vive Focus is the name of the standalone mobile VR headset which was initially teased way back at Google I/O 2017 in May. The device, which is based on a Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 VR reference design, is a standalone headset, which means it has everything on board (compute, display, battery, etc) and doesn’t rely on a host PC or a snap-in smartphone.

In addition to being standalone, the Vive Focus headset features on-board cameras which are capable of inside-out positional tracking which means users’ heads are tracked through space without the need for external sensors or beacons. Though the US version of the headset is due to debut with Google’s impressive ‘WorldSense’ tracking (our preview here), so far we see no mention of WorldSense for the Vive Focus, so it may be relying instead on tracking software from Qualcomm or in-house from HTC.

While other inside-out VR headsets—like Oculus’ Santa Cruz prototype and the Windows VR headsets—also use their inside-out tracking tech for positionally tracked motion controllers, the Vive Focus appears to use a simple controller with trigger and trackpad that will only track rotation (similar to Gear VR and Daydream View).

The headset will run HTC’s newly announced Vive Wave platform. Described as an “open” platform, Vive Wave seeks to consolidate content from China’s mobile VR market which HTC calls “fragmented.” Details are still emerging, but it sounds like Vive Wave is aiming to function for the Chinese mobile VR market like Valve’s SteamVR functions for the US desktop VR market—a device agnostic content platform with an open door for third-party headset makers to access content.

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Details on the Vive Focus price and release date have yet to be announced. Detailed specs like resolution, field of view, and battery life have not been revealed either, though HTC has noted that the display is AMOLED. However, since the headset is based on a Qualcomm reference design, it’s likely that the Vive Focus will closely match the specs we dug up on the reference design earlier this year.

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The Vive Focus is specifically aimed at Asian VR markets. Though a variant of the headset was due to launch in Western markets by the end of 2017, HTC confirms they’ve scrapped those plans. Announced earlier this year at Google I/O 2017, the US version of the headset was to be based on Google’s Daydream platform, from which it would draw VR content, and feature Google’s WorldSense positional tracking (which we previewed earlier this year). The Western version of the Vive Focus headset was expected to be based on nearly identical hardware (with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 SoC at its core).

The post HTC Announces ‘Vive Focus’ Standalone VR Headset appeared first on Road to VR.

November 14, 2017

HTC Vive Introduce New Vive Wave Open Platform

At the Vive Developers Conference in Beijing, one big announcement has already come to light, with the reveal of the HTC Vive Focus standalone headset. Alongside that reveal was the news that it would be supported by a new open platform called Vive Wave.

The purpose of Vive Wave was to provide a unified interface and set of tools for developers to provide content for the HTC Vive Focus, as well as other mobile virtual reality (VR) devices. HTC are hoping that this open platform will prevent the fragmentation of VR standards, and and as such are integrating the existing Viveport platform into Vive Wave.

Twelve Chinese hardware partners have already signed on to provide support for Vive Wave, featuring names such as 360QIKU, Coocaa, Thundercomm, Idealens, Nubia, Pimax and Pico, many of which have produced their own VR hardware, such as Pico and Pimax. Therefore it seems likely that those companies intent to integrate Vive Wave into their hardware.

HTC Vive report it is concerned by the continuing fragmentation of the VR market, particularly in China. Scattering VR content across a great number of digital storefronts and apps increases friction and means consumers are split amongst multiple hardware vendors, making content harder to access for many. With over 35 content creators, based in China and across the world, involved in creating content for Vive Wave, HTC seems to be banking on the open platform unifying VR.

The Vive Focus itself is designed to be a lightweight, easily portable VR option. Offering a AMOLED display, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and featuring inside-out tracking with 6 degrees-of-freedom, as well as content on Vive Wave and the existing Viveport platform.

VRFocus will continue to bring you news on Vive Wave and the HTC Vive Focus as it becomes available.

November 14, 2017

HTC Vive Conference in China Reveals HTC Vive Focus

This year’s HTC Vive conference in China has begun today, broadcasting its opening keynote, which contained a reveal about the standalone headset, the HTC Vive Focus. HTC President Alvin Graylin showed the audience the first look at the HTC Vive Focus as part of his keynote speech at the conference. Graylin also spoke about the substantial changes taking place in the virtual reality industry and the long-term plans HTC Vive has for VR.

The device is completely untethered, not requiring any wires or a separate smartphone device. The headset is powered by a system called Vive Wave, which seems to be acting as the content platform, and possible also the on-board operating system. Over 100 developers are already working on content for the HTC Vive Focus.

As reported previously, the HTC Vive Focus is aimed at the Chinese market, with a different headset intended for the North American and European markets. The European and North American version is rumoured to be titled the HTC Vive Eclipse, though there has been no official confirmation of this as of yet.

A particular point was raised which emphasised the intention for the HTC Vive Focus to act as an educational device. Several companies, including Microsoft and Samsung have taken an interest in providing VR content aimed towards educational content, particularly for schools and other educational centres, and the company are hoping that the HTC Vive Focus will be a practical option for this area, which up until now has mostly been dominated by smartphone-based VR devices, particularly inexpensive options such as Google Cardboard.

By introducing the HTC Vive Focus, the gap between high-end PC VR provided by the HTC Vive and smartphone-based VR is being filled. Audience reaction to the device was fairly enthusiastic.

Regarding content, it is hoped by HTC that the Vive Wave platform will provide a solution to the building fragmentation of the VR platform, by providing a standard interface and tools for content developers.

No release date or price has yet been confirmed for the HTC Vive Focus.

VRFocus will continue to bring you the latest from the HTC Vive conference.

November 2, 2017

HTC Vive Standalone Suggested for Launch this Month

The next phase of virtual reality (VR) hardware will be standalone devices, with both Oculus VR and HTC Vive having announced new head-mounted displays (HMDs) with on-board computational capabilities. HTC Vive was first out of the stalls with an announcement of a partnership with Google at Google I/O earlier this year, but has since remained tight-lipped about the device. Now it appears that the Chinese launch of this new standalone HMD could be just weeks away.

Vive Standalone China HTC Vive will be holding its annual conference Vive Developer Conference (VDC 2017), Beijing, on 14th November 2017. According to YiVian, an invitation to the event suggests that HTC Vive’s standalone HMD has been confirmed for launch at the event. You can see the conference poster embedded below.

The Chinese edition of the HTC Vive standalone HMD will have access to Viveport for content distribution exclusively, while the western edition will be a Daydream compatible device. Only yesterday VRFocus reported on comments from Rikard Steiber, President Viveport and SVP, who confirmed that there would be two different editions of the HMD for the Chinese and western markets in an interview.

The HTC Vive standalone headset will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 platform and will feature six degrees of freedom (6DoF) for head movement and come with a single 3DoF controller. The inclusion of a single controller obviously being to accommodate existing Google Daydream software as the Daydream View HMD itself has only ever shipped with one controller. The device will be using Qualcomm’s inside-out tracking technology as seen in the company’s reference design for the 6DoF head movement tracking.

Vive Standalone VR Product

The Chinese edition of the HMD is currently thought to be known as ‘Vive M’ thanks to a trademark registration from HTC itself. VRFocus has previously reported that the western release of the HTC Vive standalone HMD is thought to be known as the ‘HTC Vive Focus’ due to the reveal of a trademark registration. Beyond that, little else is currently known about the device.

Despite a trickle of rumours surrounding the device – both its western and Chinese launches – HTC Vive has continued in refusal to confirm any further details. With the VDC 2017 event scheduled for 14th November 2017, it may only be a couple of weeks until all the information becomes available, and VRFocus will of course keep you updated.

October 25, 2017

VR Headsets to see Mass Adoption of WiGig for Wireless Solution

Virtual reality (VR) has been steadily growing over the past few years, with the consumer head-mounted displays (HMDs) becoming available and new technologies pushing the boundaries of the experiences coming to the medium. However, one of the major hurdles to mainstream adoption remains the cables high-end devices have connected to either a PC or PlayStation 4 console. This may well change soon thanks to the likes of TPCast and DisplayLink, and a new report suggests that future HMDs will likely adopt WiGig technology for wireless narrowcast.

HTC Vive TPCAST

Wireless connectivity is increasingly important for VR users to have better experience, and ABI Research forecasts that almost 84% of tethered VR HMDs will have wireless connectivity using WiGig in 2022. A wired connection between the HMD and PC’s or consoles can restrict the freedom of movement for users, and while mobile and standalone devices run without the need of a cable connection, processing power is limited compared to tethered VR devices. In addition to TPCast and DisplayLink, chipset developers such as Intel, Qualcomm and Peraso are working together with hardware manufacturers to add wireless connectivity using WiGig in tethered VR devices.

Development of Cloud VR applications are expected to be another driver of wireless connectivity in VR HMDs, with the recent announcement of HTC partnering with Dalian Television and Beijing Cyber Cloud to test cloud VR service highlighting a potential future. Much like Cloudgine’s physics engine technology, rendering is done in cloud servers which allows users to access VR applications from anywhere without the requirement of a high-end PC.

“A high data rate and low latency connectivity are required for Cloud VR applications. WiGig which can provide up to 7 Gbps connectivity will play important role to support high bandwidth applications for indoor use,” stated Khin Sandi Lynn, industry analyst at ABI Research. “High capacity, low latency 5G networks will be essential for deployment of Cloud VR applications for mobile and standalone VR devices.”

ABI Research forecasts that 5G connectivity will be available in VR HMD starting from 2020 and over 2.6 million VR HMDs will support 5G connectivity in 2022. These findings are from ABI Research’s Connectivity in VR report.

Of course, the standalone HMDs in question are Oculus VR’s Santa Cruz, expected to launch late in 2018, and Google & Vive’s forthcoming device currently believed to be known as ‘HTC Vive Focus’. This collaboration was originally stated to be releasing in 2017 at Google I/O back in May of this year, however there has been little information concerning the HMD since. VRFocus will of course keep you updated with any further details on Santa Cruz, the HTC Vive Focus and other wireless VR HMD technologies.

October 19, 2017

HTC Files Tradmark For HTC Vive Eclipse In Europe

Last month evidence emerged that the upcoming standalone headset based on the HTC Vive would be called the HTC Vive Focus, based on information gathered from a Trademark application. Now further information has come to light regarding another HTC Trademark application for a device called the HTC Vive Eclipse.

Most experts have so far come to the conclusion that the HTC Vive Focus will be the upcoming standalone virtual reality (VR) device that HTC Vive is producing based on Google Daydream technology, something that was announced at the Google I/O conference earlier this year.

HTC Vive Standalone headset

This does raise the question then, of exactly what the recently discovered HTC Vive Eclipse could be. Lets Go Digital originally discovered the Trademark application for the HTC Vive Eclipse after checking various Trademark databases across the world, finding the application originally in New Zealand. The same application has now made its way to Europe. Nothing has yet been confirmed about a similar Trademark application in North America.

With so little information to go on it is difficult to determine exactly what the HTC Vive Eclipse or HTC Vive Focus will be. Speculation has already begun amongst analysts, experts and interested consumers. Most seem to believe that one will be the standalone HTC Vive/Google Daydream device, with the other being a successor to the current HTC Vive, with some speculating that it could have wireless technology such as the TPCast bundled or integrated in.

At this stage it is, of course, impossible to be sure, but VRFocus will bring you the latest news once it becomes available.

September 15, 2017

HTC Vive Focus, a Name for a new Generation

Earlier today VRFocus reported on what could be the official name for HTC’s upcoming standalone headset, the HTC Vive Focus. So VRFocus’ roving reporter Nina took a look at what this could mean for a new wave of virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs).

Vive Focus appeared in a trademark application that HTC submitted earlier this month to both the US and European trademark offices, which seems to conclusively show what the standalone headset will be called when it arrives in the next few months.

What’s surprising is the fact that it’s called Vive Focus, keeping the branding of HTC’s high-end PC-based headset. While understandable that the company wants to grow the VR brand it may make it more confusing for the average consumer that doesn’t heavily follow VR news.

This especially goes for the actual platforms both headsets will use, as we know HTC Vive uses Steam and Viveport, while Vive Focus will be affiliated with Google’s Daydream platform, confirmed during its unveiling at Google I/O this year. This may come back to bite HTC if an unwary consumer thinks their getting a great deal on the PC headset when they’re actually buying the Vive Focus – that may sound daft but this is the general public.

As yet Vive Focus has yet to be officially confirmed – VRFocus has reached out the HTC for confirmation – so what do you think of the name, good or not?

September 15, 2017

HTC Registers ‘Vive Focus’ Trademark in EU & US, Likely Intended for Standalone VR Headset

HTC has submitted a new trademark application in both Europe and the US, specifically requesting the use of a new name: Vive Focus.

First revealed at Google I/O 2017 developer conference, both HTC and Lenovo announced they were building standalone VR headsets for the Daydream platform. Neither headset revealed its perspective name, only showing concept art and a black silhouette for HTC’s new headset.

Today, the Dutch publication LetsGoDigital (via VRFocus) brought the trademark applications to light, which were initially filed on September 8th. While HTC still hasn’t said anything on the matter, leaving some doubt about whether the naming scheme is indeed intended for the standalone headset, Google had said the devices will launch later in 2017. With the holiday season fast approaching, we’ll have a definitive answer either way soon enough.

The standalone Daydream VR headsets are said to include inside-out positional tracking—a decisive upgrade over the rotational-only tracking of the smartphone-powered Daydream View headset. Using a computer vision-based sensor system, that the company is calling ‘World-sense’, the tracking tech won’t require any external beacons or sensors to enable a room-scale mobile VR experience.

Both HTC and Lenovo standalone headsets are basing their work on Qualcomm’s ‘VRDK’ reference device, unveiled at Google I/O in May. We got a hands-on with an early prototype of Qualcomm’s VRDK standalone headset, and despite the fact that it was essentially one year-old tech at the time, Road to VR executive editor Ben Lang said that when left to roam a 10 diameter circular carpet, that the tracking was pretty robust. More importantly, the reference design clearly showed the signs of integrated eye-tracking, which puts the Focus naming scheme in a different light. If the supposition is true, it would mean Focus was named specifically to sell the benefit of eye-tracking to consumers.

Check out the hands-on here.

We’ll have our eye on HTC in the coming weeks when they finally reveal the standalone headset’s name.

The post HTC Registers ‘Vive Focus’ Trademark in EU & US, Likely Intended for Standalone VR Headset appeared first on Road to VR.

September 15, 2017

HTC’s Standalone Headset to be Called Vive Focus

During Google’s I/O Conference earlier this year the tech giant revealed both Lenovo and HTC were working on standalone head-mounted displays (HMDs) what would use the Daydream platform. Now it seems the latter has an official name, HTC Vive Focus.

A recent trademark application noticed by LetsGoDigital shows that HTC applied at both the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUipo) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USpto) for the name last week, on 8th September.

htc-vive-focus-770x508

The application was filed by Grünecker Patent und Rechtsanwälte PartG MBB in Europe, the same company that handled the HTC Vive application in 2015. While in the US HTC has dealt with the process.

HTC’s new headset is scheduled to launch by the end of 2017, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 platform. From images released it’ll feature a 3DoF controller similar to that of the Google Daydream headset, but the big difference will be in the tracking. At the time of the first unveiling,Clay Bavor, vice president of VR at Google talked about the HTC and Lenovo headsets: “They’ll feature WorldSense for positional tracking right out of the box without any external equipment.”

The new headset has yet to receive an official price although its expected to sit between the entry level mobile HMDs like Daydream and Gear VR and the high-end PC versions.

As further details on the HTC Vive Focus and Lenovo offering are released VRFocus will keep you updated.